Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Ninth Floor/Antenna Deck: There were two levels that needed to be
accessed. The lower external area was
accessed through a single blast door a ladder then allowed assent to a catwalk
which circled the tower. Internal access to the upper antenna area and the roof
was accomplished by climbing a ladder first to a catwalk circling the interior
wall then a ladder to the pressure hatch in the roof. Three
eight foot parabolic reflectors (dishes) were mounted either on the upper or
lower levels pointing towards Cactus, Cowpuncher, or Corkscrew and each dish
was connected to the associated systems via waveguide to the eighth floor. There
were three foot dishes stored inside to be used for emergency replacement,
should there be any damage to the permanently installed six foot dishes.

The two antenna decks on the ninth floor

Internal access to the upper antenna area and the roof was accomplished by climbing a ladder first to a catwalk circling the interior wall then a ladder to the pressure hatch in the roof to access all of the FM base station antennas (folded dipoles) and a 32' whip HF antenna, as well as the EMF and flash detectors.

HF antenna on roof (32’ vertical)

Eighth Floor: Eight systems of microwave equipment were
installed on this floor. Three systems went to Cactus, three systems went to
Cowpuncher and two systems went to Corkscrew.
The lineup to Cactus was configured with three transmitters, the video
patch panels, the order wire, a multi burst generator to test video and three
receivers. On the other side of the room was an identical lineup that went to
Cowpuncher. At the end of the Cactus and
Cowpuncher lineups were the two systems to Corkscrew. This line up consisted of only two
transmitters, the ladder going to the ninth floor, two Receivers, and the video
patch panel.

A typical microwave lineup on the eighth floor (Raytheon KT R-1000A)

All maintenance spares for the radio equipment was stored on this floor. The facilities main power panel, for the emergency generator, air conditioning and lighting systems. All of the equipment in this room was mounted on a shock proof floor which was suspended from the ceiling by heavy steel springs.

Seventh Floor: This floor contained the dining area, the
kitchen(Stove, Refrigerator and sink) with a pantry full of C rations, and a
rest room with shower. Typically two microwave repairmen would spend a week confined
to the facility. Since the tower was manned 7/24 this was the most used area in
the facility.

Sixth Floor: Contained bunks and bedding for up to twelve
people.

Fifth Floor: All of the voice multiplexing equipment for
the microwave routes terminated here on voice patch panels. Since Cannonball
was a relay, there were two channels that were drop and insert, which were used
for communications to Cactus and Crystal.

Typical Motorola FM base station installation

The FM mobile base stations and UHF air to ground terminal were
also located on this floor. Able frequency was installed and used for internal
WHCA communications and Baker/Charlie was installed for USSS use. The UHF
system was used to communicate with Marine One and Army One as needed for
landings and departures. All of the radios were remoted to the elevator so site
personnel would have access regardless of their location within the tower.

SSB Radio Console

TMC SBT-1K Transmitter

The Single Sideband (SSB) console was equipped with two R390-A receivers, two CV-157 SSB converters with audio patch panel for all upper sideband (USB) voice traffic with phone patch capabilities and lower sideband (LSB) TTY traffic. The TMC-SBT-1K transmitter and was installed in all of the towers and used primarily for support on overseas trips.

ASR-33 100wpm TTY Terminal

All TTY circuits had associated frequency shift keying (FSK) equipment with a DC patch panel and interfaced with various TTY terminals like the ASR 33.

KWM-2A SSB system

The Collins KWM-2 was also a 1 KW transmitter but because
of its size and portability was sent overseas with the support teams. Later the
URT 23-A replaced the KWM-2 and became part of the overseas trip packages.

URT23-A with R390-A receiver

A four channel RF multi-coupler interfaced with a 32 ft.
telescoping whip on the roof, a 40 ft. supported tower with a rotating
three element beam, a 60 ft. supported tower with a rotating three element beam and a 60 ft.
self-supporting steel lattice tower supporting a rotating log-periodic
antenna. The primary use of this system
was to provide presidential communications with worldwide communications as
well as for any emergency situation..
All of the equipment in this room was mounted on a shock proof floor
which was suspended from the ceiling by heavy steel springs.

Fourth Floor: Was a secure Cryptographic
Comm. Center. The entrance from the elevator was a steel door with a
combination lock and the area around the floor hatches and ladder was enclosed
by a steel wall and door. All lines
coming into the comm. center were filtered from Radio Frequency Interference
(RFI).

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KW-7 Secure Cryptographic TTY Terminal

There were two equipment racks of KW-7 and were two equipment racks of KW-26 encrypted TTY systems with associated printers/keyboards. These terminals could be routed over the microwave circuits or patched to the lower sideband (LSB) of the SSB equipment on the fifth floor. With this equipment we could provide secure TTY to any WHCA support team worldwide.

KW- 26 Secure Cryptographic TTY Terminal

All of the equipment in this room was mounted on a shock
proof floor which was suspended from the ceiling by heavy steel springs.

Third Floor: The administrative office area contained work
stations for four people. All necessary
supplies were stored on this floor. This area would provide administrative
support for the Comm. Center as needed.

Second Floor: This floor was the facility workshop; it was
stocked with spare parts for all of the mechanical equipment. Tools necessary
to complete any repair activity was also available for use.

First Floor and Entrance: The entrance was a 12 inch thick steel blast
door that opened by using a hydraulic system.

Decontamination changing station

The first floor also had a radiation decontamination station which consisted of a dressing room and a shower. There were supplies such as gas masks and other equipment necessary to detect or combat any Chemical, Biological or Nuclear contaminants.

(Otis) elevator shaft, Note all of the misc. water pipes, power, and air ducts.

There was also a hot water tank located on this floor
which serviced the seventh floor shower as well as the decon shower and the
first floor latrine.

Basement: All of the facilities mechanical equipment was
located here. The HVAC power panel, the air purification system, the elevator
control panel, the water system pump and water chiller for the air handling
units located on each floor. All of the
telephone cables from external sources including a 100 pr. underground cable
from the AT&T site at Hearthstone Mt. entered the building and terminated
on the main distribution frame (MDF). The sites telephone key system was also
located in the basement.

Buildings and grounds: The site had a fully functional helicopter
pad, an emergency generator and garage, and an old two room cabin used to store
equipment. The site had a 5 ton dump truck with snow plow and salt spreader to
keep the access road passable in the winter.
There was also a 1000gallon 2.5 ton water tanker to keep the water
supply at capacity.

Three element beam mounted on the garage

A 40 ft., TV tower with a three element rotating beam antenna was attached to the rear of the garage and a 60 ft. TV tower with a three element rotating beam antenna was attached to the front of the garage.

LP tower stood just beyond the trees

In the clearing between the tower and
helicopter pad was a 60 ft. self-supporting, steel lattice, rotating, and
log-periodic antenna. This antenna could
be lowered to the ground as required maintenance dictated.

If a nuclear war breaks out Joe Bowman may find out about it as quickly as the President of the United States.

Just a hundred yards from Bowman’s backyard at the base of Raven Rock Mountain lies a helicopter pad. The landing pad would be the main arrival point for top government and military leaders who would staff the military command center buried inside the mountain.

The secret facility known officially as the Alternate National Military Command Center (ANMCC) is commonly called The Underground Pentagon or more simply The Rock. Located just off of Pennsylvania Route16 between Blue Ridge Summit and Gettysburg, The Rock is designed to be the nerve center for the US military if a similar center in the Pentagon is knocked out, it is well prepared to do the job Buried deep inside a mountain made of the hardest rock on the East Coast.

The Rock can support 3000 persons for a month it includes apartments for the President and top government officials, it has its own water electrical and air filtration systems it has communications facilities that permit military leaders to communicate with US forces across the globe as easily as if they were linked by telephone.

Even though it is a backup center the AMNCC is manned 24 hours a day seven days a week. Intelligence data from all over the world is funneled into the mountain and stored in a computer for safe keeping. But for all its sophistication The Rock isn’t invulnerable

When the military built it at the dawn of the nuclear age in the early 1950’s it was thought to be virtually bombproof Since then however improvements in the accuracy and power of Soviet nuclear weapons have made it unlikely that the facility would survive a direct attack against it. Still military leaders say The Rock is and will remain a mainstay in the US defense network. For without a command center capable of surviving at least the opening rounds of a nuclear exchange the US arsenal of bombers missiles and submarines would be turned into so many useless clay pigeons.

Going under

Even as the radioactive dust settled after the first nuclear blast over Hiroshima in 1945 American defense planners knew they would soon face a new reality The US mainland long protected from its enemies by oceans would be vulnerable to a quick and devastating attack with nuclear weapons. And Pentagon the main command center had become a sitting duck

So after World War II military leaders began looking for a place to bury a command center that could be made They settled on a 1100 acre site on Raven Rock Mountain It was located 60 miles from Washington far enough from the capital to escape the effects of an attack there but within quick flying range. Raven Rock had another advantage it was only five miles from the US Army’s Ft Ritchie an installation that had been used during World War II for top secret training. Since it was a relatively secluded base close by Ft Ritchie got the job of being The Rocks logistical and technical support base.

After the site was agreed on men and machines converged on the mountain in January 1951. The contractors toiled at a feverish pace.” We were real busy all right. We worked 24 hours a day blasting and hauling rock out of there” recalls one worker who drove a truck at the site. Half mile long tunnels were drilled into the center of the mountain and were curved gently to reduce effects of a blast.

Inside the caverns at the end of the tunnels the military constructed five windowless buildings set in shock resistant foundations. According to a US Army Corps of Engineers report published at the time 500,000 cubic yards of stone were eventually hauled from the tunnels. As work inside the mountain drew to a close in 1953 a separate but related project began on a tract of government land near Sharpsburg, “A great field of giant poles 150 feet high has sprung up 10 miles south of this Western Maryland community” a1953 Washington Post report from Hagerstown said.

That project along with a similar one near Greencastle Pa was built as a communication system for The Rock. Known as Site B and Site A respectively both were abandoned in the 1960’s when communication improvements made the facilities obsolete. Today according to military sources The Rock can communicate with any part of the world without the use of antennas located anywhere near Raven Rock.

The Heart of The Rock

The heart of The Rock is right out of Dr. Strangelove. It is the Emergency Conference Room the place where a command to launch a nuclear attack might someday be given. Inside this room is a large rectangular conference table lined with chairs for the President and his top advisors. On the walls of room, six huge screens are available to display the latest intelligence information. Two on either side of the screens stand ready for officers who would give a description in “Huntley Brinkley” style according to a Pentagon source

Also inside The Rock is the Current Action Center a military intelligence unit that keeps a constant watch on all parts of the globe. If trouble flares in a coastal South American country for example the CAC can warn American ships or planes in the area of possible danger. “The Current Action Center in the Pentagon acts as a trip wire. It alerts the Joint Chief of Staff and the Secretary of Defense of events in the world which may require the use of US forces” explains Anderson Atkinson the Air Force general who oversees The Rocks communications. If the CAC signals a crisis of major importance Emergency Conference Room would be manned and orders would then be sent out over its extensive com network.

So far all of the nation’s major crises have been handled through a command center at the Pentagon which is identical to the one inside The Rock.

But on several occasions a rise in world tension has prompted the military to send senior officers to The Rock” to spread them around just in case” If the Pentagon were threatened or knocked out the President could quickly helicopter from the White House to Raven Rock Military sources won’t say how fast the President could get to The Rock but they say its “fast enough”. At any rate command can be swiftly shifted from Washington to Raven Rock “In less than a second we can push the button here and they have it command up there at the alternate” says Gen Atkinson.

The Rock is equipped with the same kind of computer and radio equipment that the Pentagon has and the steady stream of information gathered by military intelligence is sent to both centers. Briefings given frequently at the Pentagon center are broadcasted simultaneously to The Rock via closed circuit television. “They are nearly identical in operation. The only thing they don’t share is the coffee pot” says one Pentagon source.

From rock to rock pile

For all the efforts taken to protect it the Soviet Union is known to have bombs big enough and missiles accurate enough to wipe out The Rock. A probe by the House Committee on Armed Services last year concluded that most military command centers and their communications networks would not survive a nuclear attack directed against them. The Rock was included in that finding.

The military apparently has foreseen that problem and acted to correct it. In addition to building command centers at the Pentagon and inside The Rock it has equipped three Air Force 747s - “the so called doomsday planes” - to serve as airborne nerve centers.

But Gen Atkinson says The Rock is by no means obsolete because there is no certainty it would be successfully attacked... Some military strategist believes an enemy might spare command centers in a surprise attack. With no command centers they reason the US would be unable to call back a massive retaliation strike. Still the military has continuously devised schemes to improve The Rock Atkinson says he had seen a number of proposals to make underground command post harder than it is. He declines to discuss house plans are.

Rep Bob Daniel of Virginia a member of the investigations committee agrees with military planners who argue that even though The Rock isn’t bomb proof it would be unwise to rely solely on the aircraft for command. “I wouldn’t recommend its destruction now” Daniel says.

The military has reviewed the House report and is expected In September to present its own recommendations to the Congress for better command and control. Military officials refuse to say if improvements to The Rock will be among those recommendations.

Whether improvements are suggested or not may be irrelevant when it comes to the future of The Rock. The military so far hasn’t come up with anything to beat the Raven Rock Mountain installation. And until it does The Rock is liable to stay put. Says Atkinson” I feel very comfortable with the system I’m convinced we can direct our forces and I live with every day”.

Joe Bowman lives with it every day too although worries about how The Rock might survive a nuclear attack are the farthest thing from his mind.’ Well there isn’t much use to worry about it. Once it happens there won’t be much left here anyhow” says Bowman.

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About Me

Information about the White House Communications Agency and my experiences from 1965 to 1973. Including the Presidential Emergency Microwave Facilities built in the 1960's. Experiences at Camp David, Cannonball Tower(1965-1970). Accounts of several overseas support trips including the Presidents trip to China, a look at President Nixon's Western White House in San Clemente CA, and The Flordia White House in Key Biscayne FL.